Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence

Baroness Hoey Excerpts

Monday 9th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I have good news for the noble and learned Lord. Since he asked that question—and he is right that I did not answer him at the time, because I was not at that meeting—a read-out has since been published, and he can read it at his leisure.

[Baroness Hoey (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, before the Prime Minister went, many of us felt that this had been discussed in the back channels somehow, and that he would succeed in obtaining the release of Jimmy Lai. The Prime Minister is now apologising for many things, but has he apologised to the family? He went to China and we spent all this money and we had all those resources out there, but we did not bring back the one British citizen who is being held in solitary confinement.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That is not how it works: I wish that we could secure everything that we want, and give nothing that anybody else wants, ahead of any diplomatic engagement. For many years there has been no engagement and we are playing catch up: we must start building a relationship now in order to get the things that we need for this country, one of them being the release of Jimmy Lai. We will not give up. The fact that there has been one visit does not set us back. We continue to make the case and we continue to argue for his release. That, I believe, is the right way to go about this.